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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Gasparilla Half Marathon Review

Sorry for the lack of updates. Life and training have me slammed lately.

Today was the Gasparilla 13.1 in Tampa, FL. Gasparilla is Tampa's version of Mardi Gras but much more tame and is pirate themed. You can read about it here. I grew up in the Tampa/St Petersburg/Clearwater area so it was nice to be back in my old stomping grounds.

A very hot and sweaty Mr Half TRIing

Gasparilla makes a weekend out of running. Saturday there is a 15K and 5K. On Sunday they have a 13.1 mile and a 5+3K. For crazy folks (!! cough Bonnie cough !!) you can elect to do all 4 races. If you did all 4 races you got a medal and t-shirt for each race. You also got a special medal indicating your craziness. All the races are WELL attended. There was over 10,000 runners for the 5K, over 7,000 runners for the 13.1 mile run and I heard the grand total for all the races was 22,000.

Race Grade A+

Bonnie loves my EMZ shirt!! Here is EMZ in Tampa, FL after the race.

This race was a great race in every way. There is not one thing to complain about (which is surprising for someone who likes to critique races).

The water stops were well supplied and had a ton of volunteers. Each stop had both Gator-Aid (which was too strong) and water. There was no food or supplements at any of the water stops but with so many runners at the event it would very costly to supply food.

The end of the race had plenty of food and water. The Columbia (a local famous Cuban restaruant) supplied the end of the race food. This food consisted of a side salad, black beans and rice and paella. This was a great meal and a nice change from the normal bagels and bananas (which were also being handed out).

The medals are really well made and very heavy. Much better quality than the normal cheapo medals.

The course is as flat as a pancake and would be great for a PR if you could break out of the massive pack. The course also runs along the scenic Tampa Bay inlet. It was pretty watching the sunrise over the water while running.

Jolly Roger

There were plenty of people along the race cheering the runners on. Along the course locals provided their own entertainment. Local charities and high school bands & cheerleaders were all along the course cheering the runners on and acting crazy. There were several people playing their guitars and singing. There was also a mime, a banjo player, several DJs and two people juggling fire balls.